Is my 1GB Shuffle defective?

[luukas]

At least I really hope this isn't normal - at first I didn't notice the hiss and, well, EM interference (bleeps, blops and such, pitch change when the led is active and so forth). This oversight was caused by the KSC-35's, which aren't as sensitive as the other 'phones I tried.

It's simply impossible for me to listen with Creative's EP-630s. I even tried the stock buds for good measure, but they're just slightly less worse. Which doesn't seem at all right to me. A quality control issue perhaps?

Any opinions are welcome before I send the player back.

 

[dw6928]

trip to your local apple store is worthwhile...they solve much on the spot

 

[blessingx]

Errr not sure how many they have in Finland.

 

[luukas]

Indeed, there are none in this backwater country.

My best choice is to fill out a form on Apple's support site. Regardless I'm trying to get my hands on another Shuffle just to be on the safe side.

 

[rextrade]

Definitely a defect--send it back.

 

[luukas]

Oh shoot, so much for the defect theory. Plainsong kindly let me try her Shuffle today, and the same backround noises are present. I'm both relieved and annoyed now.

 

[Sparky191]

So this is headphone dependant?

 

[luukas]

I would say so, yes. Just try to avoid overly sensitive headphones (EP-630's are specced 16ohms/106dB).

I also had a chance to try the AE-1 amp with the EP-630's, which helped a lot. Only the ever-so-slight backround hiss remained. I'd love to try an impedance adapter, but I'd need to bother building one first... maybe next week.

 

[Sparky191]

This is all new to me. What in your opinion impedance would avoid this problem.
I was thinking of getting shuffle to use with my Panasonic HJE50. (16ohms). Looks like they'd have the same problem.

Though others have said it shouldn't suffer from the same problem.
http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showt...hlight=ATH-EC7

 

[luukas]

Bumpity bump...

Just fiddled around with a shure attenuator, and found that I had to set the pot to 164 ohms before the output static dropped sufficiently. That is to say, from annoying to barely noticeable while music is playing. I tried it with low volume levels and in a quiet environment (at home).

 

[blessingx]

For whatever it's worth, I tried the Shuffle (in an Apple store) recently with a pair of ER4Ps. No problems.